Pro Skating: Is it Still Around?

GF2445 said:

At the moment, our hope of a pro-skating event that is sanctioned by the ISU lies in Japan's hands.

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cooper said:

i thought there was a pro skating in the 90's?? and speedy didn't like the idea back then.. correct me i'm wrong..

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cooper said:

so.. what happened to scott hamilton's idea?? there was a plan about a pro-skating stuff.. sort of..

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MidnightSkater said:

It takes money. Lot's of it.

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cooper said:

i thought there was a pro skating in the 90's?? and speedy didn't like the idea back then.. correct me i'm wrong..

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cooper said:

i thought speedy said yes to it..

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cooper said:

i thought there was a pro skating in the 90's?? and speedy didn't like the idea back then.. correct me i'm wrong..

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Mathman said:

Speedy gave the green light to Scott to explore the idea with potential sponsors. Nothing came of it. I assume that Scott's group was no able to raise the money.



It wasn't that Cinquanta didn't like pro skating, he wanted to control it. The World Professional Figure Skating Championship was a wonderful event, going back to 1973. This was the "Landover (Maryland)" event, organized by Dick Button. Over the years the winners were skaters such as Janet Lynn, Dorothy Hamill, Debi Thomas, Denise Biellmann, Kristi Yamaguchi, Midori Ito, Yuka Sato; Scott Hamilton, Robin Cousins, Brian Boitano, Paul Wylie, Kurt Browning; Belousova and Protopopov, Underhill and Martini, Gordeeva and Grinkov; Torvill and Dean, Wilson and McCall, Bestimianova and Bukin, etc.

But after the attack on Nancy Kerrigan in 1994 and the subsequent spike in popularity of the sport, more and more pro competitions were held. They became increasingly silly and cheesy, with the same skaters doing the same routines every week on TV, and no one taking the "competition" aspect seriously. By 1998 the IOC rules on amateurism had relaxed to the point where Olympic eligible skaters were allowed to compete in pro competitions. The organizers of pro competitions were eager to get skaters like Michelle Kwan Kwan and Alexei Yagudin, and Cinquanta decreed that if eligible skaters competed alongside pros, then the competition would have to follow ISU rules and be judged by ISU judges.

Some of the pros objected and refused to participate (four-time pro champion Kristi Yamaguchi, for instance). In 1998, the first year of the pro-am format, the winners were Kwan, Yagudin, Kazakova and Dmitriev, and Usova and Platov (although Kurt Browning won the second program with his "clown" routine and came within a whisker of upsetting Yagudin overall.)

After a couple years of this interest waned and Dick Button sold out his interest. But the buyers never got it together and pro skating in the U.S. was dead.

Now the only major pro-am event is the Japan Open. This began in 1997 and is still going strong. The first individual winners were Michelle Kwan, Ilya Kulik, Meno and Sand, and Grishuk and Platov. Somewhere along the way it changed to a team event, Japan versus Europe versus North Amerrica. Last year (2013) team Japan won with Kozuka, Takahashi, Asada and Murakami. The problem with the pro-am format, using ISU competition rules and scoring, is that the old pros don't have a chance against the current Olympians. For instance, on "team Europe" last year the ladies European team team featured future Olympic gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova (she scored 105 points in her program) and crowd favorite Irina Slutskaya, who could manage only 69 points.

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skatedreamer said:

There were definitely pro competitions in the 90's and some great performances came out of them!

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drivingmissdaisy said:

Agreed! My favorite was the Ito "Rose of Pain" going head-to-head against Kristi's "Madame Butterfly". Both were skated with more artistry than their amateur programs and they still had all the jumps.

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Mathman said:

It wasn't that Cinquanta didn't like pro skating, he wanted to control it. The World Professional Figure Skating Championship was a wonderful event, going back to 1973. This was the "Landover (Maryland)" event, organized by Dick Button. Over the years the winners were skaters such as Janet Lynn, Dorothy Hamill, Debi Thomas, Denise Biellmann, Kristi Yamaguchi, Midori Ito, Yuka Sato; Scott Hamilton, Robin Cousins, Brian Boitano, Paul Wylie, Kurt Browning; Belousova and Protopopov, Underhill and Martini, Gordeeva and Grinkov; Torvill and Dean, Wilson and McCall, Bestimianova and Bukin, etc.

But after the attack on Nancy Kerrigan in 1994 and the subsequent spike in popularity of the sport, more and more pro competitions were held. They became increasingly silly and cheesy, with the same skaters doing the same routines every week on TV, and no one taking the "competition" aspect seriously. By 1998 the IOC rules on amateurism had relaxed to the point where Olympic eligible skaters were allowed to compete in pro competitions. The organizers of pro competitions were eager to get skaters like Michelle Kwan Kwan and Alexei Yagudin, and Cinquanta decreed that if eligible skaters competed alongside pros, then the competition would have to follow ISU rules and be judged by ISU judges.

Some of the pros objected and refused to participate (four-time pro champion Kristi Yamaguchi, for instance). In 1998, the first year of the pro-am format, the winners were Kwan, Yagudin, Kazakova and Dmitriev, and Usova and Platov (although Kurt Browning won the second program with his "clown" routine and came within a whisker of upsetting Yagudin overall.)

After a couple years of this interest waned and Dick Button sold out his interest. But the buyers never got it together and pro skating in the U.S. was dead.

Now the only major pro-am event is the Japan Open. This began in 1997 and is still going strong. The first individual winners were Michelle Kwan, Ilya Kulik, Meno and Sand, and Grishuk and Platov. Somewhere along the way it changed to a team event, Japan versus Europe versus North Amerrica. Last year (2013) team Japan won with Kozuka, Takahashi, Asada and Murakami. The problem with the pro-am format, using ISU competition rules and scoring, is that the old pros don't have a chance against the current Olympians. For instance, on "team Europe" last year the ladies European team team featured future Olympic gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova (she scored 105 points in her program) and crowd favorite Irina Slutskaya, who could manage only 69 points.

Click to expand...

Mathman said:

Speedy gave the green light to Scott to explore the idea with potential sponsors. Nothing came of it. I assume that Scott's group was no able to raise the money.



It wasn't that Cinquanta didn't like pro skating, he wanted to control it. The World Professional Figure Skating Championship was a wonderful event, going back to 1973. This was the "Landover (Maryland)" event, organized by Dick Button. Over the years the winners were skaters such as Janet Lynn, Dorothy Hamill, Debi Thomas, Denise Biellmann, Kristi Yamaguchi, Midori Ito, Yuka Sato; Scott Hamilton, Robin Cousins, Brian Boitano, Paul Wylie, Kurt Browning; Belousova and Protopopov, Underhill and Martini, Gordeeva and Grinkov; Torvill and Dean, Wilson and McCall, Bestimianova and Bukin, etc.

But after the attack on Nancy Kerrigan in 1994 and the subsequent spike in popularity of the sport, more and more pro competitions were held. They became increasingly silly and cheesy, with the same skaters doing the same routines every week on TV, and no one taking the "competition" aspect seriously. By 1998 the IOC rules on amateurism had relaxed to the point where Olympic eligible skaters were allowed to compete in pro competitions. The organizers of pro competitions were eager to get skaters like Michelle Kwan Kwan and Alexei Yagudin, and Cinquanta decreed that if eligible skaters competed alongside pros, then the competition would have to follow ISU rules and be judged by ISU judges.

Some of the pros objected and refused to participate (four-time pro champion Kristi Yamaguchi, for instance). In 1998, the first year of the pro-am format, the winners were Kwan, Yagudin, Kazakova and Dmitriev, and Usova and Platov (although Kurt Browning won the second program with his "clown" routine and came within a whisker of upsetting Yagudin overall.)

After a couple years of this interest waned and Dick Button sold out his interest. But the buyers never got it together and pro skating in the U.S. was dead.

Now the only major pro-am event is the Japan Open. This began in 1997 and is still going strong. The first individual winners were Michelle Kwan, Ilya Kulik, Meno and Sand, and Grishuk and Platov. Somewhere along the way it changed to a team event, Japan versus Europe versus North Amerrica. Last year (2013) team Japan won with Kozuka, Takahashi, Asada and Murakami. The problem with the pro-am format, using ISU competition rules and scoring, is that the old pros don't have a chance against the current Olympians. For instance, on "team Europe" last year the ladies European team team featured future Olympic gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova (she scored 105 points in her program) and crowd favorite Irina Slutskaya, who could manage only 69 points.

Click to expand...